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A Mw Janffw r WASHINGTON, D C.

N- PETERSy FHOTO-LITHUGRA FHER aith .grains getest @fitta IMPROVEMENT INGOTllOhl-BALE TIE.

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TO ALL WIIOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Beit known that I, JAMES W'. BARNUM, ofthe city of New Orleans, parishof Orleans, and State of Louisiana, have invented a certain new, useful,and improved device for fastening the ends of wire rope orwire,together, when the same is used for banding bales of cotton; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a partof this specification.`

Before proceeding to disclose the nature of my invention, or to describeit, I deem it proper to premise that experiment has demonstrated thatneither wire rope nor common untwisted wire can sustain anything like atension that is equal to its normal strength, if at any part of it thatis subjected to tension there are anyv short or abrupt bends or lexurcs;hence it follows that if either thc one or the other be substituted forthe ordinary flat hoops that are commonly used in banding cotton-bales,it is necessary to avoid the making of any such lexures in order tosecure the advantages resulting from the superior strength of the formeroverv the latter, when that strength is unimpaired by the cause inquestion. The only way, in fact, by which the full normal strength ofwire rope, or wire that is used in banding cotton, can be preservedintact, is to faste'n the' ends together by attaching them to-anintermediate appliance, in which there are curved supports for the saidends, which require the same to assume a gradual and regularincurvation, and thus prevent a suicient lexure from occurring to impairthc original strength of the said rope or wire. Thisfact is so wellestablished that many cotton-ties, the technical name by which suchappliances are known, have been made and patented; but, so far as myinformation and knowledge extend, no device that has yet been producedcan be considered free from defects, either of an intrinsic or extrinsiccharacter. Some are too heavy and cumbrous; some too diicult ofapplication in praetice; s0me too costly in the manufacture or making ofthem; whilst others are too weak to bear .the strain to which they aresubjected by thc enormous expansive force that is developed by theelastic properties of the cotton that is confined within the bale,particularly if. the bale receive a sudden concussion from falling froma bluff, or into the hold of a ship, accidents to which every bale'ofcotton is mere or less liable.`

In my invention, I have endeavored to produce a tie that does notpossess any of the glaring faults that distinguish all that havepreceded it, and which sha-ll at once combine in itself extreme symmetryof shape and proportions, greatly diminished weight, as compared withall existing similar contrivanccs, by which I mean contrivances lookingto the accomplishment of the same end, and abundant strength to resistthe greatest possible degree of tension, whether proceeding from theexpansive force within the bale, orvsud-l den shock or concussion thatcan be borne by the wire rope or the wire, whilst at the same time itcontains or possesses the requisite curved supporting points to preventall bending of the same to a weakening extent, and so to preserve thewhole pristine strength of the wire rope, or wire, as the case may be,entirely unaffected and unimpaircd. But my invention will be betterunderstood by referring to the drawings, in which-'- Figure l is a viewof my device when attached to the two ends of a wire-rope band, andFigure 2 a view of the device when detached from such rope. The sameletters are used to denote the same parts of the device in both figures.

The hricfest description will be sufficient to explain my invention. Itconsists of a union of two semiannular grooves or supporting curves, AA', in or around which the ends of the wire rope or wire are fastened bytwisting, as is clearly shown at fig. l, so united as to occupy-thesmallest space or compass in which it is possible to compress or bringthem, as a mere glance at the drawings will completely demonstrate; thatis to say, the two curved supports er grooves A A are joined together insuch manner that, whilst they are at right angles to each other, andexactly similar in all respects, they overlap one another, and henceoccupy butrlittlc more space than would be taken up by one such groeveor support, the device as awhole presenting at thcfsame time the verybest form for resisting any strain that can be broughtto bear upon it,the very best for preventing any damaging iiexure or iucurvation of thewire rope or w1rc that may be fastened to it, and as goed as any to befound in any existing, device to simplify or make easy the operation ofmanufacturing it, or of applying it to actual use. The mode of applyingto praetieelis so clearly indicated in the drawings at iig. 1, that noexplanation need be herein given on that point. i v i Having thusdescribed my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is

The device herein described, andas shown upon the drawings, whenprovided with the two overlapping semi-anmllmgrooves-or curvedsupporting points A A', as described, when constructed as described, andused for fastening the ends of wire rope or of common untwisted wirethat is employed for bandingeottombaies, as

set forth.

t JAMES W. BARNUAL Witnesses:

RUFUS R. RHODES, ANDREW HERO.

